Parliament refutes claims of settlement talks between Bagbin and Akufo-Addo over vacant seats

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has firmly denied allegations that he met with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to negotiate a settlement over the recent declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant.

On October 17, Speaker Bagbin announced the Fomena, Amenfi Central, Suhum, and Agona West parliamentary seats vacant. However, this decision has been temporarily halted by the Supreme Court, pending further deliberation.

Addressing the rumors, a statement from Parliament on October 22 clarified that a video circulating on social media, allegedly showing Speaker Bagbin in a meeting with President Akufo-Addo, is misleading. The video, according to the statement, was actually from July 4, 2024, when the Speaker presented the maiden Democracy Cup to the President, and is unrelated to the current parliamentary matter.

The Speaker’s office condemned the spread of false information, emphasizing that there was no negotiation with the President regarding the disputed parliamentary seats.

The statement read: “The attention of Parliament has been drawn to a video circulating on social media insinuating that the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has been invited to a meeting with the President to negotiate a settlement in respect of the pronouncement by the Speaker on October 17, 2024, in response to a call by the Minority Leader to declare the seats of four Members of Parliament vacant.”

“Parliament states without any equivocation that there is no iota of truth in the insinuation in the circulated video. The video in question was taken on July 4, 2024, when the Speaker led a delegation to present the maiden Democracy Cup to the President.”

The statement further criticized the attempt to distort the video’s context and urged the public to disregard it, adding: “The attempt to wrongly label the video and twist facts to impugn the integrity of the Speaker and Parliament is not only disingenuous but unfortunate.”

In closing, Parliament urged the public to treat the misleading video “with the contempt it deserves” and ignore any attempts to deceive them.

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